The objective of the continuation study is to understand the long- term effects of pursing intervention on the development of attachment between an infant and his/her mother. Specifically, the study, at eighteen months of the infant's life, aims to: 1) assess the long-term effect of mediated instruction designed to increase the mother's sensitivity to the capacity of her infant for interaction on the development of mother-infant attachment; 2) determine the most appropriate time to offer mediated instruction; 3) further document the family, maternal and infant characteristics that influence the development of mother-infant attachment; and 4) conduct the study in a sample of multiethnic and varied socioeconomic backgrounds. The administration of a battery of instruments and procedures at eighteen months post-partum will extend the observation of 260 mothers and their infants enrolled in an originally four-group longitudinal experimental study (Groups A, B, C, D). The treatment of mediated instruction was applied to Group A during the ninth month of pregnancy, to Group B during the hospitalization following delivery, to Group C at two months post-partum, and to Group D, the original control group, at four months post-partum after all data was collected. A fifth group, Group E, will be recruited from the same population to serve as an additional control group in the continuation study. Group E mothers will not have seen the mediated instruction nor will have been exposed to the effects of participation in a longitudinal study. The observation at eighteen months includes measures of mother-infant attachment, infant temperament, social support, family functioning, infant development, and demographic variables. Descriptive, correlational, and multivariate analyses will determine if there is long-term effect of mediated instruction on the development of mother-infant attachment and if the effect is significant beyond that accounted for by maternal, infant, and family variables. The knowledge obtained from this study will be useful in identifying cost-effective nursing interventions that are successful in influencing the development of mother-infant attachment. Such interventions could enhance the quality of health care offered to mothers and infants for the purpose of promoting parenting behaviors. Furthermore, interventions which demonstrate a positive influence on the mother-infant attachment have the potential for preventing failure to thrive in the infant, child abuse, and neglect.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01NR001434-01A1
Application #
3391333
Study Section
Nursing Research Study Section (NURS)
Project Start
1987-05-15
Project End
1989-05-14
Budget Start
1987-05-15
Budget End
1988-05-14
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1987
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Medical Br Galveston
Department
Type
Schools of Nursing
DUNS #
041367053
City
Galveston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77555
Fuller, S G; Moore, L R; Lester, J W (1993) Influence of family functioning on maternal-fetal attachment. J Perinatol 13:453-60